The next morning, Kim awoke in her new Dormitory. The first thing she saw was the red and gold hanging with the great Gryffindor Lion in a permanent roar. She got out of bed and changed into her Hogwarts robes. She ambled sleepily toward the mirror and stared hopelessly at her tousled, unevenly cut, blonde locks.
"You really need to do something about that hair."
Kim looked around to see who had spoken and came face to face with Anna.
"Well, what do you propose that I do with it?" she inquired, blinking the sleep from her eyes.
"I'll cut it for you if you like," Anna replied, walking over in her pajamas that were a bit too lacey for Kim's taste. "My aunt's a hairdresser and she gave me lessons."
"Did she?" Kim wondered mildly, not really caring. She was too busy wondering what she would be having for breakfast.
"Yes… now where did I put my wand?" Anna began rummaging around her trunk.
"Wait a second! Just wait one SECOND!" Kim exclaimed, becoming alarmed, "I never said that I wanted my hair cut!"
"Oh, hush, you'll never get any boys to notice you the way that you are now," Anna retorted, finally noticing her wand on her bedside table. She picked it up and brandished it at Kim, making it emit several purple sparks by accident.
"Where's the fire?" Lauren asked groggily, sitting up in bed with her hair tousled and her eyes red and puffy.
"No fire," Anna replied. "Kim won't let me cut her hair!"
"But, I don't want-"
"Ooh, you should let her!" Lauren said enthusiastically, rubbing her eyes a blinking a few times. "Look what she did to my hair!" she added once she was fully awake. She tossed her own glossy brown hair into view. It had been neatly layered and was quite pretty.
"But, I don't want-" Kim repeated.
"Nonsense, of course you do," Anna replied confidently. "Now sit!" she said very forcefully.
Kim sat. The moment she did, she heard a series of small zip noises. She looked down at her hair that hung near her waist. She uttered a soft scream when she found it near her shoulders and in layers.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Anna was saying, vanishing the extra hair with a simple incantation.
"Ooh, it looks so much better!" Lauren exclaimed, getting up to change into her school uniform.
Kim turned around to look in the mirror and had to admit that it looked great. Living with a bunch of Death Eaters who fought over any little thing had rubbed off on her, however.
"It's... alright," she admitted.
"Oh, you know you like it!" Anna snapped, slipping into her skirt and shirt and fastening her tie. "Now let's wake Ginny and go to the Great Hall!"
"Yeah, I'm starved," Kim agreed, casting one more glance at her new haircut before going to put on her school uniform like Lauren and Anna were.
Lauren shook Ginny a little, and she woke with a dull, "S'matter?"
"Time for breakfast, Gin!" Anna sang.
"Okay," she replied and turned over to continue sleeping.
"Oh, come ON, Ginny, wake up!"
"Alright! Alright!"
Kim followed Lauren and Anna down to the Common Room, while Ginny got dressed and sat around on the squashy armchairs that were placed around the room. Once Ginny had emerged from their Dormitory, they all trooped into the Great Hall for breakfast before their first class.
"What have we got first?" Ginny asked through a mouthful of sausage.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Kim replied, thinking hard. Defense Against the Dark Arts? She already knew the Dark Arts, so why did she have to learn to defend herself against them?
A red-haired boy who took a seat next to Ginny broke into her train of thoughts. He had a shiny Prefects' badge on his chest. "Hey Ginny," he greeted jovially. "Who are your friends?"
Ginny rolled her eyes, "How many times do I have to introduce you, Ron?"
"Only one more time," he replied, buttering some toast as a bushy-haired girl, who wore a badge identical to his sat next to him. A person that Kim already knew followed her. Harry Potter.
"Oh, honestly, Ron," the girl said, rolling her eyes, "that's Lauren, Anna, and… Well, I actually don't know who you are."
"Kim Barkley," Kim replied, staring at her English Muffin.
"Pleased to meet you," the girl replied, "I'm Hermione Granger-"
"Yeah, we know, Hermione," Ron interrupted impatiently. He turned to Kim, "Why haven't I seen you before?"
"I've been home-schooled in magic and I just got transferred here yesterday," she replied.
"Oh, that must be fascinating," Hermione was saying. "You must be a pureblood, then! What were you taught?"
"Er," Kim said, uncertainly. "Transfiguration…" (Yeah, if you counted Avery teaching her to change the spiders into doxies before he set them into a Muggle woman's hair, while Nott killed her husband). "…Um, Care of Magical Creatures…" (Again, another interesting predicament with trying to make a deal with a lone Acromantula so that it would get set into a house of Muggles and eat them alive). "…And, er, Potions…" (This involved Lucius Malfoy teaching her to brew one of the most deadly Potions available, which turned the drinker inside-out after an hour of excruciating pain. The taker would then bleed to death from exposure. Malfoy, himself, had then put the Potion into some of the drinks given to the Aurors at the Ministry…but that was a different story).
"You must have had a wonderful teacher," Hermione crooned.
Kim snorted into her muffin.
"You look oddly familiar," Harry announced, after staring at her for about five minutes. "Have we met?"
"Er... no," Kim replied. Did she really look THAT much like her father?
Ginny's brother, Ron, looked at her, too, "Hey, Harry! You're right! You know who she looks like?"
Kim's eyes got very wide. What if they recognized her?
"Are you related to Lockheart?" Ron asked curiously.
Kim sighed inwardly in relief, "No, I'm not."
"Oh come on, I don't think she looks like Lockheart!" Hermione protested.
"Well, I'm going off to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Meet you up there," she said to her new friends and hurried off.
She wandered helplessly through a few corridors, before realizing that she was utterly lost. Whether luckily or unluckily, she happened to bump into none other than Draco Malfoy along one corridor that looked suspiciously like the last three.
"So… you're here, are you?" he smirked. "I suppose you're not in Slytherin, though, right? Dear, dear, what will daddy say?"
He was mimicking her, she knew that, but this wasn't the time for her to loose her temper. If she wanted him to show her the way, she'd have to play by his rules.
"Can you just show me the way or not, Draco?" she asked temperamentally, nonetheless.
"Yes, I can," he replied, then looked around, "why were you really sent here?"
"The Dark Lord wanted me to keep an eye on Potter," she replied in an undertone. "He seemed pretty confident that I'd be able to weasel my way in Gryffindor."
"I see," he mused. "Do you want me to tell father so he can tell him that you made your way in?" he asked as they turned the corner.
"Yes, if you can," she replied. "I don't have my own owl and I'm not sure that I want to use one of the school's."
"I will then," he replied, leaving her at the door to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Kim looked around and spotted the back of Anna's head and sat down next to her… only to find that it wasn't Anna at all!
"Hello, I'm Luna Lovegood," the girl said in a dreamy voice.
"Um, hi… I'm Kim Barkley," Kim replied. She got a good look at this girl. Luna was wearing earrings with orange radishes dangling from them and a necklace made of butterbeer caps. A permanently surprised look was on her face and her wand was tucked behind her ear.
"You must be the new Gryffindor," Luna said in her faraway voice.
"Yeah," Kim agreed. "What house are you in?"
"Ravenclaw," Luna answered, mistily.
"Oh, really? That's cool," Kim replied.
Just then, Anna, Lauren and Ginny ran inside. By now, most of the class was already assembled.
"Hey, Kim," Ginny said sitting down to Kim's right. She spotted Luna and greeted her as well, "Hey, Luna."
"Hello, Ginevra," Luna greeted dreamily, using Ginny's full name for some odd reason. "You know, you have a very pretty name…"
Kim began to wonder if Luna always spoke this way or whether she was in some odd trance. She was jerked out of her thoughts, however, when the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher walked in, closing the door behind him.
"Hello, everyone," he welcomed briskly. He seemed to be very young, as though he could have graduated only a year or two ago. "My name is Professor Croft, and I'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the year and hopefully for longer." He surveyed the room very carefully as though taking in their faces. "What you will learn in my class will help you in the real world, especially with what is going on in our world today." Kim became slightly nervous. Why did it seem like the Professor was staring right at her? Professor Croft soon looked the other way, much to Kim's relief, and began taking the attendance.
Once everybody had confirmed they were present, he began the lesson.
"Today we will begin right out with ways to defend yourself. Does anybody know the disarming spell, by any chance?"
Kim saw that everybody else in the class had raised their hand, so she looked determinedly at the floor.
"Miss Barkley, why don't you give us an answer," the Professor said when he also realized this.
Kim looked up at him, but she couldn't remember the disarming spell. "I don't remember, sir."
"Why don't you give it a try," he encouraged.
"Um, Avada Kedavra?" she replied, not at all hopeful: she knew it was incorrect.
The class laughed, thinking she was trying to be funny on purpose and she smiled apologetically.
"Well that would be one way to defend yourself," he agreed with a small smile playing about his lips. "However, it would also land you a cell in Azkaban." He seemed to be going over something in his mind. "If you were to point your wand at one living thing, Miss Barkley, and say the Killing Curse, do you think it would die?"
Yes, a voice in Kim's head said immediately, remember that old Muggle you killed over the summer?
"Maybe, sir," she answered.
"Yes, I suppose there is a chance that you might harm me in some way if you were to try it on me… but I'm not here to teach you the Unforgivable Curses," he said purposefully.
Like I need to learn them, Kim thought inwardly. I've had the Imperius Curse on me so many times that I can't even begin to count them all.
"Does anybody else know what way there is to defend yourself without getting into trouble with the Ministry of Magic?" the Professor quizzed his class.
All of the hands rose once more and he surveyed the room for a possible candidate.
"Mr. Hoven," he said, finally picking on a Ravenclaw boy.
"The spell most commonly used for defending yourself is called the disarming spell. It's an incantation that is pronounced 'Expelliarmus'," he answered without difficulty.
Kim realized that she should have known that one; she remembered Macnair mention it once, before teaching her how to do the Imperius Curse. She glanced over at Terry Hoven, who was staring right at her. He smiled and she turned away, embarrassed.
"Perfect, five points to Ravenclaw," Professor Croft said happily. "You should do well on your O.W.L.S. Now I want you all to get into pairs and practice the disarming spell. Remember: Expelliarmus."
She spent the rest of the lesson practicing the disarming spell with Luna, who was her partner. While they practiced, they talked about things like the race of heliopaths Luna was convinced had joined the Dark Lord. Kim did not know what heliopaths were, nor did she believe that the Dark Lord had any possession over them, but she found the conversation interesting enough, anyway.
Finally, when class was over, she said good-bye to Luna and found Ginny, Anna, and Lauren waiting for her outside the room.
"Herbology next," Anna announced as Terry Hoven walked by them and smiled at Kim. Lauren and Anna began to giggle and Ginny suddenly had to tie her shoelace.
"What's so funny?" Kim asked, wondering if she was missing out on some inside joke.
"Oh, please," Lauren said, still a bit giggly, "don't tell me you didn't notice!"
"Notice what?" Kim wondered. Ginny coughed and decided to tie her other shoelace.
"Kim you have to be one of the most oblivious people I know!" Lauren exclaimed in exasperation as they left the castle and made for the greenhouses. "Are you telling me that you didn't notice that Terry Hoven couldn't stop staring at you? Throughout the entire lesson, he didn't do much of anything except look your way!"
"You could definitely do worse, Kim," Ginny agreed as they made their way to greenhouse six.
"I tell you, it's your haircut! You look stunning!" Anna gloated. Kim just blushed scarlet as they walked into class and stood near some pots of odd plants.
Professor Sprout entered at that moment and stood before them all. "Good morning, everyone!" she called to them in a cheery voice that matched her looks like a perfectly fitting glove.
"Good morning, Professor Sprout," the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs chorused together.
"Today you'll be learning about St. Bartholomew's Crocus," she said in an equally cheery voice. "Can anyone tell me the purpose of St. Bartholomew's Crocus? Why do we use it?" About four people raised their hands, and Professor Sprout chose Ginny.
"St. Bartholomew's Crocus is used in Sleeping Draughts in Potions. It can also be quite dangerous once it's bloomed, as its petals are poisonous to the skin," she recited.
"Excellent, five points to Gryffindor," the Professor replied. "Now since our Crocuses haven't bloomed yet, they aren't poisonous. I'm still asking you to put on gloves while you repot them, however, because they do have needles, which are very sharp."
They spent the rest of the class repotting dozens of the Crocuses, which seemed very pretty until one's needles poked Kim in the arm, reminding her unpleasantly of a bee sting. After the lesson, the four of them trooped back up to the Great Hall, where they had a quick lunch and then ran up to Gryffindor Tower to exchange their books for their last class of the day. Anna, Ginny, and Kim all had Divination, and Lauren had Muggle Studies. Kim vaguely remembered Lucius Malfoy telling her that she didn't need to know about Muggles because "They don't know magic and are, therefore, unworthy of existence, and you should therefore, not bother taking Muggle Studies, because it's a complete and utter waste of your time."
Since they had a few minutes to spare, they watched a game of Wizard's Chess between Ron and Harry. Kim didn't really watch the game, but rather focused on Harry with narrowed eyes. Finally, when it was time to head to class (Ron had beaten Harry pretty badly), the seven of them (including Ron, Harry, and Hermione), all walked to their classes together.
When the sixth-years were out of sight, Lauren turned to Kim and demanded, "Why were you glaring at Harry the whole time?"
"I wasn't glaring at Potter," she replied, trying to think up a quick excuse. "The sun was in my eyes. I was right across from the window, you know."
Lauren seemed to accept this and didn't bring up the subject again. Soon they switched hallways and the three girls pulled into Divination, which was the only class taught by a Centaur.
After the class, the girls decided to head back to the Common Room to drop off their books. Kim was going to accompany them, until she spotted Draco walking down the hall toward her. He saw her and stared so pointedly at her she realized that it was too obvious to be ignored.
"I'll meet you guys up there, okay?" she told her friends, who were looking at her and Malfoy suspiciously.
"Alright," Ginny agreed and the three of them disappeared around the corner.
"Come here," Draco commanded and pulled her into an empty classroom.
"Did you tell them?"
"I did," he answered. "Father says that the Dark Lord looks both pleased and cautious at the moment." He looked around the room as though he were afraid something invisible might hear them, "You'd better give him some information soon, or he might think you've turned spy on him instead of on Potter. You should go home for Christmas Break instead of staying here."
"I was planning on it," she replied. "I heard him saying that he was going to the Weasleys over Christmas break."
Draco smirked, "Potter can't get enough of those Weasleys… but they're a disgrace to the wizarding world."
"I know; I've become friends with Ginny, but also with another valuable source. I've met Natalie Lupin. Her father is in the Order of the Phoenix, as well as Arthur Weasley. If you're going to keep in touch with any of the Death Eaters at any time, ask them for me whether I should see if I can manage to stay at one of their houses for the Christmas Break, instead. The Lupins might be a bit more difficult to get into, but I might be able to manage it."
Draco smiled, "Will do. That's all."
Kim didn't bother thanking him and turned to leave, when he said, "You need to see if you can get an owl of your own sometime, Pettigrew."
"Don't call me that!" she hissed. "There's all the chance in the world that someone could hear you…"